Stay StarryEyed

Liz Parker Kuhn has spent more than a decade covering candy, snacks, bakery, and the brands behind them as Senior Editor of Candy Industry and Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery. Just in time for Halloween, she shares the latest innovations, flavors, and formats to watch (and taste).

From Nerds Gummy Clusters, Skittles Gummy Crystals and Tootsie Hoots to new OREO LTOs, better-for-you gummies, unexpected brand collaborations, and what could finally dethrone pumpkin spice, this episode is sweet inspiration for brand builders in any category.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

✨ Why the best innovation often takes what consumers already love and makes it new again

✨ How legacy brands like Hershey, Tootsie Roll, and Haribo fortify the core as they innovate

✨ Why texture is becoming as important as flavor with how it shows up in new products

✨ How brands use social media, listening, and consumer behavior to spot emerging ideas

✨ Why knowing exactly who you’re for can help your brand stand out in a crowded category

Liz’s Creative Inspiration

Book: Anything by Jodi Picoult

Brand: Feastables/Mr. Beast

Beverage: Maple Old Fashioned

Song: “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift

How often do we introduce ourselves by what we do?

Our job titles become part of our identity. Promotions become proof we’re succeeding. And when a job changes or ends, it can leave us questioning more than what comes next.

But we are so much more than what we do for a living.

Allison Hill knows we can define success differently.

She is the Chief Social Impact & Content Officer at Roark Capital, the private equity firm behind Arby’s, Sonic, Cinnabon, Orangetheory Fitness, and more.

She is also a mom, philanthropist, and author of the new book Your Job Won’t Love You Back: 12 Principles to Live in Alignment with Your Heart.

For 30 years, her career has taken her from global work at Sprint and Coca-Cola to entrepreneurship, marketing, and now social impact.

She’s confirmed how to create a career you love without letting it become your identity, and how to build brands and cultures with the same kind of clarity.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

✨ Why your identity should be more than your career, especially when jobs change or end

✨ How following what you want to learn can lead to unexpected career opportunities

✨ How to identify what energizes you and use it to guide your next career decision

✨ Why defining what your brand uniquely owns should come before marketing it

✨ Why listening before leading can help you build stronger teams and cultures

A conversation for ambitious leaders who want to build successful careers without losing sight of the people, passions, and purpose that make a successful life.

❤️ Tune in for Your Job Won’t Love You Back: How to Define Success on Your Own Terms with Allison Hill. Link in comments.👇

#StayStarryEyed #Leadership #RedefiningSuccess

Allison’s Creative Inspiration

Book: Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt

Brand: Dolly Parton

Beverage: Bacardi and Diet Coke

Song: “Odds Are” by Barenaked Ladies

Allison's book, Your Job Won't Love You Back, is available now!

The best businesses don't start with a bang. They start with a small problem someone finally decided to solve.

Tracey Pickett is the founder and CEO of Hairbrella, an eight-figure brand she built from a single patented rain hat into a multi-category platform for hair protection. A former intellectual property attorney, she holds multiple patents, has raised venture capital, and has been featured on Good Morning America and Oprah's Favorite Things.

Tracey shares Hairbrella's path from a frustrating rainy day to a data-driven platform shaped by a decade of customer feedback. She shares how a Kickstarter campaign, thousands of customer emails, and a willingness to launch before she felt ready informed every decision that followed, and how she's using AI to map the customer journey end to end and bring new products to market faster than ever (and you can too).

In this episode, you'll learn:

✨How to validate an idea by launching before it's ready and letting customers shape it

✨Why a direct line to customers, not just data, is the fastest path to product-market fit

✨How you can expand a single product to create a complete, new category

✨How to use AI to shorten the distance between a new idea and a scalable product

✨Why people buy the result, not the product, and what that means for your ads

Tracey's Creative Inspiration

Book: Ready, Fire, Aim by Michael Masterson

Brand: Bombas

Beverage: Classic margarita with LALO tequila

Song: "Interstellar Love" by Thundercat

Why do some new products take off while others quietly disappear? It comes down to how well the team creating them knows their customer.

Mindy Armstrong is the VP of Menu Innovation at Tropical Smoothie Cafe, bringing more than 20 years of culinary and marketing experience. Before Tropic Time, she led menu innovation at Perkins and Buffalo Wild Wings. She also serves on FSR's Next Gen Council and the Legacy Board for Women in Restaurant Leadership.

Mindy shares why she starts every new role by building relationships, how she's learned to customize her communication style for every collaborator, and what a consumer-centered innovation process looks like. She also gets candid about how to balance your loyal customer base with appealing to a new generation.

In this episode, you'll learn:

✨ Why the best innovation starts with strong relationships, not just big ideas

✨ How to ensure your customer (not internal opinions) drives business decisions

✨ How to bring customers into the innovation process from early ideas to launch

✨ How to build an innovation roadmap around needs, occasions, and opportunities

✨ How to uncover equities customers love and turn them into new brand growth

A conversation for brand leaders who want to build stronger teams, create better ideas, and turn consumer understanding into an innovation pipeline that just gets better.

Mindy’s Creative Inspiration

Books: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, North Woods by Daniel Mason

Brands: Hawkers, Mendocino Farms

Beverage: Pickle pea martini

Song: Anything by Macklemore

What separates leaders who talk about culture from leaders who actually create it?

Paul Macaluso is CEO of Torchy's Tacos, the Austin-based brand known for its award-winning queso and "Damn Good" tacos. He brings 30 years of experience, most recently as president and CEO of Another Broken Egg Cafe. He also held senior leadership roles at Go To Foods across McAlister’s Deli, Moe’s Southwest Grill, and more. Paul's path started three decades ago as a general manager at Taco Bell, a role he still credits as the foundation for everything that followed.

Paul shares how he planned his rise from restaurant front lines to president and CEO with disciplined goal-setting, and how that same discipline now shapes how he improves the unique culture at Torchy's. He shares inside info about their recognition program, why he added "service minded" as a core company value, and how a simple shift in the corporate office changed how teams are supported. He also opens up about how he sets and achieves his greatest goals.

In this episode, you'll learn:

✨How to make big dreams reality by breaking them into a plan of small steps

✨How to turn tough feedback into the growth that gets you promoted

✨What it takes to make company values feel real instead of just words on a wall

✨How little recognition moments can have an outsized impact on team culture

✨Why cross-functional experience makes marketers better brand leaders

Whether you're early in your career or leading a company, this is an inspiring reminder that the goals you set for yourself can become the culture you build for everyone else.

Paul's Creative Inspiration

Book: The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruis

Brand: Nike

Beverage: Old Fashioned with Woodford Reserve

Doing the right thing and protecting your margins don't have to be opposite goals.

You just need to know where to start.

Saloni Doshi is CEO and Chief Sustainability Officer at EcoEnclose, an industry-leading provider of sustainable packaging for leading e-commerce brands. She shares how she helps brands like Crocs and Chö Chocolates create packaging that strengthens sustainability impact with a North Star that guides every decision she makes.

Before acquiring EcoEnclose, Saloni worked in regenerative agriculture, co-founded Fresh Takes Kitchen to expand healthy food access, and held leadership roles at Teach For America. She also offers practical advice for leaders who want purpose and profit, and why the boldest sustainability innovations often come from the smallest brands.

In this episode, you'll learn:

✨Why defining your North Star early makes decisions easier and growth faster

✨How to evaluate sustainability investments through both business and brand impact

✨Why circular design is the next frontier for packaging innovation

✨Where to start if you want to make your brand more sustainable

✨How purpose-driven brands create stronger loyalty, engagement, and growth

A must-listen for leaders who want a clear filter for hard decisions, and proof that purpose and profit can grow together.

Saloni's Creative Inspiration

Book: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

Brand: Cotopaxi

Beverage: Tequila soda with Lalo Tequila

Song: "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones

What if the real advantage of AI isn’t the model, but the context you give it?

Tammy Billings is Vice President of Business Development at Signal Flare AI and one of the most knowledgeable leaders in restaurant technology. After a career spanning entertainment, restaurant marketing, and technology, Tammy has become a trusted translator between tech and the leaders who need to use it to make better decisions.

Tammy shares how AI is changing the way brands bring together sales, customer feedback, pricing, market conditions, and operational data to make smarter decisions. But her advice is refreshingly simple: start small, keep experimenting, and never underestimate the context and human judgment to turn information into action.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

✨Why context, not just data or AI, is the key to making better business decisions

✨How to distinguish true decision intelligence from just another dashboard

✨Why AI should augment judgment, not autonomously make decisions

✨How to start small, experiment with tools, and build stronger AI capabilities

✨ Why helping people and making connections is a powerful way to lead

A conversation for brand leaders who want to move beyond AI experimentation and make smarter decisions that truly move businesses forward.

Tammy’s Creative Inspiration

Book: Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson and Influencer by Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler

Brand: YETI

Beverage: Vodka soda, Aperol spritz, or bubbles

Song: “Joan of Arc” by Madonna

What if the most powerful thing a brand can offer isn't a product or a price point, but a moment you will never forget?

Sam Torgerson is Vice President of Global Sales for Viceroy Hotels & Resorts, an independent lifestyle luxury brand with properties around the world. With 20+ years in high-end hospitality spanning Vail Resorts, Marriott International, and Ritz-Carlton, Sam has built a career on trust, deep listening, and experiences guests never forget.

Sam shares what luxury hospitality has always understood that other industries are still catching up to: the most memorable moments aren't the most expensive ones. And in an AI-driven world, human connection isn't a nice-to-have. It's the new luxury.

In this episode, you'll learn:

✨ Why the brands winning right now are investing in what AI can't replicate

✨ How deep listening is the foundation of world-class sales and marketing

✨ Why the simple moments make big impressions and how to create them

✨ How empowering front-line team members inspires enduring customer loyalty

✨ How following your passion can lead to a career, a team, and a life you love

A conversation for brand leaders who want to borrow from the best in hospitality, and bring luxury thinking to create memorable customer experiences in any category.

Sam's Creative Inspiration

Book: Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara

Brand: Nordstrom

Beverage: Paloma

Song: "Confident" by Demi Lovato

Most people spend their lives trying to find the right path.

Dr. McCulloch continues to find the perfect ones.

Liz’s dad is an adventurer, doctor, entrepreneur, rancher, investor, husband, father of six, grandfather of 24, and volunteer physician for 30+ international medical missions.

His story began in the woods of Ohio, where a love of nature sparked a fascination with biology. That curiosity led him to medicine, becoming a talented plastic surgeon, and the founder of the Aesthetic Surgery Center of Colorado. Along the way, he met and worked with his true love, Carole, built a 25,000-acre cattle ranch, raised a family, and spent decades exploring the world, pursuing opportunities many only dream about.

The common thread is a simple philosophy: “If you don’t think of it, you can’t do it.”

In this special father-daughter conversation, Dr. McCulloch shares lessons from life following curiosity, embracing opportunity, and creating impact with work and service.

✨Why finding work you genuinely enjoy matters more than chasing a title

✨How mentors can help shape your future long before you realize it

✨Why the most successful people create opportunities instead of waiting for them

✨Why choosing the right life partner is the most important decision you’ll ever make

✨How a philosophy of “If you think of it, do it” can guide every chapter of life

Whether you’re beginning your career, making a change, or deciding what’s next, this is a reminder that a meaningful life is created with honesty, curiosity, and courage.

Book: Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

Brand: Apple

Song: “Gratitude” by Brandon Lake; also songs by Jerry Jeff Walker, Willy Nelson, Garth Brooks, Maná, Carlos Vives, and Bad Bunny

Beverage: Sidecar

Most people only apply for jobs they're already qualified for.

But what if you're meant for more — or something completely different?

Marita Swift knew what she wanted to do next. She just wasn't qualified.

Yet.

Marita is the VP of Strategic Growth at The Big Biscuit, a Kansas City-based breakfast and lunch concept where she leads franchise development, market expansion, and growth strategy. Her path there was anything but conventional. She started as a fine dining chef, cut her teeth in scratch kitchens, and spent a decade building culinary expertise before making a deliberate, methodical pivot into brand strategy and growth.

Marita shares the three-step process that made her personal rebrand work, and how the same discipline shapes the way she builds and protects her business today.

In this episode, you'll learn:

✨How to rebrand yourself when you’re ready for what’s next

✨Why the best leaders study the role they want before they step into it

✨How to differentiate in a crowded category by knowing what you do best

✨How to balance short-term execution with long-term strategic vision

✨How brand architecture helps teams make smarter decisions as they grow

For rising and established leaders alike who are ready to define where they’re going, and build the skills, story, and strategy to get there.

Marita's Creative Inspiration:

Book: Ego Is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday

Brand: Whole Foods

Beverage: Pinot noir

Song: Anything by Rihanna or Billie Eilish